Coombs Sports | Recreation - Gayzack 73's blog - Typepad

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Monday, December 31st, 2012

Coombs Dances 4U ? The Coombs Hilliers Recreation &amp; Community Organization has a great dance every month. The music featured is either good old Rock & Roll or Country and Western by local artists from Vancouver Island.

Tickets are available at Cranky Dawg Music in Parksville, The Shoe Inn in Qualicum Beach, Back Road Java in Errington, Coombs General Store, Triangle Music in Port Alberni, Jumpin? Java Coffee Oasis at the V.I.U. Campus in Nanaimo and the Meadowwood Store in Bowser.

Cash bar, snacks, coffee, tea and soft drinks available. Come on out and join the fun at the Coombs Rodeo Grounds Hall on Hwy 4A. (Alberni Hwy).

Buy your tickets early! We have been selling out fast!

Let us know on facebook at CHRCO Rodeo Grounds

OUT OF TOWN RESERVATIONS call 250-927-2747

Source: http://www.harbourliving.ca/event/chrcos-new-years-eve-bash-big-dance-4u/2012-12-31/

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Source: http://jhikk.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/coombs-sports-recreation-chrcos-new-years-eve-bash-big/

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Source: http://erycafs.posterous.com/coombs-sports-recreation-chrco39s-new-years-e

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Source: http://gayzack.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/coombs-sports-recreation-chrcos-new-years-eve-bash.html

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Steve&#39;s Stat&#39;s | Jalex Homes Blog

STEVE?S STAT?S ? December 2012

Brought to you by: JALEX Real Estate Services

December 2012

Number of Active Listings in the Shippensburg school district area (per MRIS MLS system): 157

Number of Homes Sold in the period (3 months): 55

Absorption rate = # of homes sold / period (3 months): 18.33

Month?s supply of homes = Total active listings / Absorption rate: 8.56

(6 is considered balanced market conditions, 6 is a seller?s market and above 6 is a buyer?s market)

Total homes sold on the past 30 days, Shippensburg school district: 19

Median sales price: $159,000

High sales price: $281,000

Low sales price: $57,000

Median days on the market for all sold homes in the past 30 days: 85

Thanksgiving has come and gone.? December is here, Christmas is upon us and winter is soon to be here.? The local Shippensburg real estate market is showing signs of a slow down as home buyers and home sellers thoughts go to Christmas.? The absorption rate, which is a measure showing how long it will take to sell through current real estate inventory at the current sales pace, has gone up.? That measure is lower than it was a year ago at this time due to a more active market with more buyer demand and lower housing inventory.? Winter is around the corner.? And the new year is full of the unknown with regards to taxes, jobs and the economy.

As we think about Shippensburg real estate we can reflect on a wonderful 2012.? And we can talk about what we think is coming in 2013.

First, 2012 has been a great year for Shippensburg real estate and for JALEX Real Estate Services.? Our sales and market activity has increased another year.? It is official now that JALEX is Shippensburg?s leader in real estate sales, services and information!? Our success has continued in 2012 and we have had the best year yet.? The year had a lot of buyer demand, low interest rates, and prices really came down this year as sellers began making the decision to sell.? Those short sale and foreclosure properties were also selling as banks have stream lined their processes for getting short sales to market and foreclosure sales have been consumed by buyer demand.? With the fourth quarter 2012 we have begun to notice a lack of inventory, or houses to sell.? The absorption rate has dropped to as low as it has been since the 2007 time period.? At JALEX we are focusing on fiishing the year strong working with buyers and sellers to get their transactions to settlement before the end of the year.? Before the tax implications for selling real estate changes BIG TIME!

As we head in to 2013 a lot of uncertainty is out there.? Will Congress come to an agreement on income Budget?? The tax rates are going up but whose?? And how much?? Is the current administration going to attempt to do anything about out of control spending?? Entitlements?? Will there be soution to the fiscal standoff?? As of late, I have begun to see mortgage lender get tighter with respect to making those loans.? I expect that things will certainly tighten up more at the beginning of 2013.? Lenders will look for reasons to not make loans.? In addition to that, sellers are going to continue to see values drop in the short term.? Lower demand due to winter, coupled with tighter lending requirments and negativity will result in lower prices in the north east through winter.? The silver lining for prices, lower inventories.? The number of homes on the market right now in Shippensburg is 50 less than just four months ago.? There is simply not as much to buy and those lower numbers will meet a lower demand from buyers which should keep prices fairly steady.

The question is how much interest rates will rise in 2013, how quick they will do so, and what new changes there will be with lending and taxation.? Inflation is also a factor and the price of everything, including buying and selling a house increases.??The?national real estate market?has built momentum.? Locally, transactions are up and appreciation is right around the corner.? As 2013 approaches?I wonder how this?trend can be mainained?? With no federal budget, higher taxation for everyone?(THAT?S RIGHT, NOT JUST THE RICH PEOPLE, EVERYONE!), higher interest rates, inflation, and who knows what is in the details.? 2013 is beginning with much anticipation and uncertainty.

Steve Coover

Associate Broker, Owner

JALEX Real Estate Services

717-477-9326 Office ? Shippensburg

?

Source: http://shippensburgrealestate.com/steves-stats-december-2012-shippensburg-real-estate-stats/

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Art Therapy And Mindfulness Training Lower Stress In Breast ...

Stress is especially dangerous for those with cancer -- it's even been tied to lower survival rates -- but a new study suggests art and mindfulness could help decrease anxiety among this group.

Creative art therapy, in addition to a mindfulness training program, seems to provoke actual brain changes linked with decreased stress in women with breast cancer, according to the small new study published in the journal Stress and Health.

"This type of expressive art and meditation program has never before been studied for physiological impact and the correlation of that impact to improvements in stress and anxiety," study researcher Dr. Daniel Monti, M.D., the director of the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine, said in a statement.

The study included 18 people with breast cancer, who received their diagnosis sometime between the three years before the study and six months before the study. None of the participants were in active treatment for their cancer. At the start of the study, they were asked to fill out a checklist of 90 symptoms, and they also underwent fMRI brain imaging as they did a "neutral" task, a stressor task, and a meditation task.

Some were assigned to take a mindfulness based art therapy course, while others were assigned to just take an education course, both for eight weeks. The mindfulness based art therapy course included lessons in mindful yoga, mindful breathing, emotional awareness, etc., as well as art activities where they were able to express themselves emotionally.

After the eight-week period, the study participants filled out the symptom checklist again, and also underwent the brain scans again.

Researchers found that the study participants who were assigned to the mindfulness based art therapy course had actual brain changes linked with stress, reward and emotions. Specifically, they experienced more cerebral blood flow in the left insula, amygdala and hippocampus regions of the brain.

The study participants in the mindfulness based art therapy course also experienced less anxiety and stress, according to their responses to the symptom checklist.

For more ways to naturally relieve stress, check out the slideshow below:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/02/art-mindfulness-stress-relief-breast-cancer-patients_n_2219268.html

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Retailers' price war can save you big bucks

4 hrs.

This holiday season, the hottest trend among retailers isn't found on a store shelf. It's taking place at the cash register.

Major retailers, from Best Buy to Toys R Us, are promising to match their competitors' prices. Generally customers just need to bring in an advertisement or printout to prove that the same item is available elsewhere at a lower price. In some cases, shoppers can come back with a receipt and get a refund for the difference if the price of an item they bought fell.

Best Buy, Target, Walmart and Sears offer price matching to customers all year round. But what's different now is that Best Buy and Target are matching online retailers such as Amazon.com for the first time. That's a big deal, since online prices tend to be lower than those at stores.

Shoppers will be able to save some extra money, but they're going to have to read a lot of fine print to do so.

"Price matching sounds good, but there are so many exclusions, it sometimes isn't as good as it sounds," says Edgar Dworsky, the founder of ConsumerWorld.org, which tracks deals for shoppers.

For instance, Target limits the number of online retailers that it will price match against to just five. Best Buy has selected 20, but only matched online prices from Nov. 1 to Nov. 17 and will start again from Nov. 27 to Dec. 24.

Toys R Us is offering price matching for the first time and will only match prices that customers find in other brick-and-mortar stores. Walmart also matches against in-store prices. However, both retailers will match prices found on their own websites if the prices are lower than what you find in their stores. It's not uncommon for retailers to offer steeper discounts online than in their actual stores. (But Toys R Us says it won't match prices on its own website if the item is marked as an "online-only price.")

Even the most experienced bargain hunters can get tripped up by all the rules. But shoppers can save some money if they're diligent.

"It really is a way to save money and shop at the store you want instead of one that's inconvenient," says Dworsky.

Here are five ways to get the most out of price matching offers:

1. Know the policy
If you want to take advantage of a price match offer, read the store's policy closely. You can find the guidelines on the store's website.

Print out the policy and bring it with you. Having a hard copy will be helpful if you need to argue your case.

"Know their policy backwards or you may be bluffed into thinking something doesn't qualify," says Dworsky.

2. Bring proof
Always bring the advertisement or the printed web page for the item you want to price match. Walmart doesn't require bringing the ad because it says cashiers have access to all local advertisements. But Dworsky recommends bringing ads in anyway. If there's any confusion, you'll be better prepared to make your case no matter where you shop.

The cashiers and customer representatives are always looking for a reason not to approve the transaction, says Dworsky.

3. Save receipts
Some retailers will give you money back if you see a lower price after you buy an item. Keep a hold of your receipts and, particularly for big-ticket items, continue to look for lower prices.

Best Buy will issue refunds until the end of January. Toys R Us lets you seek a refund up to seven days after buying an item. Sears customers can get a refund after 14 days. Target is letting customer's price match against brick-and-mortar retailers until Dec. 24 for any item bought after Nov. 1. You can only ask Target to match the price of an online retailer until Dec. 16.

4. Go straight to the customer service desk
Many retailers have hired cashiers specifically for the holiday rush, so the new employees may not be up-to-speed on the store's price-matching policy. Heather Wheeler, who runs savings website TheKrazyCouponLady.com, recommends handling the transaction at the customer service desk instead on the cashier.

"(Those staffers are) trained a little more and are more knowledgeable," says Wheeler.

5. Look beyond retailers
You can also price match depending on how you pay. PayPal, the payment processer, promises to match a lower price if you've already made a purchase using the service. That includes airline tickets. PayPal will match the prices of retailers that don't let customers use PayPal, however. Just fill out a form and upload a receipt when you find a lower price. PayPal will give you back up to $1,000 for all purchases made until Dec. 31.

You should also ask your credit card company to see if it offers price matching. It's rare, but there are a few cards that do.

Citi just launched a program for its credit card holders. Called the Citi Price Rewind program, it promises to do the work for you. Register your purchases made on the Citi credit card online and it will send you a check for the difference if it finds a lower price from an online retailer.

The program is aimed at pricier purchases: It will only issue a discount if the price difference is $25 or more. Citi will give you the amount up to $250 for each item, and up to $1,000 a year. Of course, you're going to need pay your credit card bill in full and not incur interest charges to truly make this a deal.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/retailers-price-war-can-save-shoppers-big-bucks-1C7308451

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Fiscal Cliff Progress Suffers As Republicans, Democrats Remain Divided


By Mark Felsenthal
HATFIELD, Pa., Nov 30 (Reuters) - With barely a month left before the "fiscal cliff," Republicans and Democrats remained far apart on Friday in talks to avoid the across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that threaten to throw the country back into recession.
While President Barack Obama visited a Pennsylvania toy factory to muster public support for tax hikes on the rich, portraying Republicans as scrooges at Christmas time, his primary adversary in negotiations, Republican House Speaker John Boehner, continued to describe the situation as a stalemate.
The argument will resume on Sunday when Boehner, along with Obama's Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, and others, take to weekly political talk shows and pick up further steam next week with a possible confrontation in the House of Representatives between Democrats and Republicans over the timing of a vote on tax hikes.
Lawmakers are nervously eyeing the markets as the deadline approaches, with gyrations likely to intensify pressure to bring the drama to a close.
The markets, in turn watching the politicians, fell as Boehner spoke, but recovered afterward. It was a repeat of the pattern earlier in the week when the speaker offered a similarly gloomy assessment.
The latest round of high-stakes gamesmanship focuses on whether to extend the temporary tax cuts that originated under former President George W. Bush beyond their Dec. 31 expiration date for all taxpayers, as Republicans want, or just for those with incomes under $250,000, as Obama and his fellow Democrats want.
After five days of increasingly confrontational exchanges, the work week drew to a close with an announcement by Democrats of a long-shot effort next week to force an early tax-hike vote in the Republican-controlled U.S. House to break the deadlock.

MEDICARE, SOCIAL SECURITY
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she would undertake the rarely successful effort unless Boehner agreed by Tuesday to bring a bill to the floor allowing taxes on the wealthy to rise, something Boehner is highly unlikely to do until he is ready.
"The clock is ticking," Pelosi said at a news conference. "The year is ending. It's really important with tax legislation for it to happen now. We're calling upon the Republican leadership in the House to bring this legislation to the floor next week."
While Boehner offered no immediate response to Pelosi's threat, Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, recently elected by Republicans to be the fourth-ranking party leader in the House, told Fox News in an interview not to expect any tax vote next week.
Amid the competing statements from the two sides, there were some actual, albeit modest, signs of potential movement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threw Republican proposals into the mix for reform of Medicare, the government health insurance program for seniors, which has exploded in cost in recent years and is a major contributor to the country's soaring deficit.
McConnell of Kentucky told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Republicans would agree to more revenue - although not higher tax rates - if Democrats agreed to such changes as raising the eligibility age for Medicare and slowing cost-of-living increases in the Social Security retirement program.
Rodgers, in her Fox News interview, declined to completely rule out a much-discussed potential compromise in which Republicans would accept some increase in tax rates on the rich, but not to the level desired by Obama.

'A LUMP OF COAL'
More House Republicans - although still just a handful -expressed flexibility beyond that of their party leaders about considering an increase in tax rates for the wealthy, as long as they are accompanied by significant spending cuts.
Most House Republicans refuse to back higher rates, preferring to raise revenue through tax reform.
Obama, speaking in Pennsylvania, said he was encouraged by the shifting views of some Republicans, and urged House approval of a bill that has already cleared the Democratic-controlled Senate that would lock in the middle-class tax cuts and raise the rates for the rich.
"If we can get a few House Republicans on board, we can pass the bill. ... I'm ready to sign it," Obama said.
But neither he nor the other principals in the debate budged from their basic positions.
Instead, Obama turned up the pressure on Friday, hitting the road to drum up support for his drive to raise taxes on the wealthy and warning Americans that Republicans were offering them "a lump of coal" for Christmas.
In a visit to the Pennsylvania toy factory, Obama portrayed congressional Republicans as scrooges who risked sending the country over the fiscal cliff rather than strike a deal to avert the tax increases and spending cuts that begin in January unless Congress intervenes.
"We already all agree, we say, on making sure middle-class taxes don't go up. So let's get that done. Let's go ahead and take the fear out for the vast majority of American families so they don't have to worry," Obama said at the Rodon Group factory, which makes K'NEX building toy systems as well as Tinkertoys and consumer products.
In Washington, Boehner said Obama's plan to raise taxes on the rich was the wrong approach.
"There is a stalemate. Let's not kid ourselves," the Ohio Republican said. "Right now we are almost nowhere."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/01/fiscal-cliff-progress_n_2221917.html

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Syrian jets bomb rebels in Damascus

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian jets bombed rebel-held areas of Damascus on Saturday, residents said, and a countrywide Internet blackout entered its third day.

Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad clashed with troops in most populated areas of the country, according to opposition activists. At least 40,000 people have been killed during the 20-month-old uprising, they say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked monitor, said war planes were bombing the Damascus suburbs of Kafar Souseh and Darraya.

If rebels maintain a presence in these areas, they will hold ground in a continuous arc from the northeast to southwest of the capital's outer districts.

"Syrian regular forces are trying to control the areas surrounding the capital and clashed with rebel fighters," the Observatory said.

The mostly Sunni Muslim rebels battling Assad, who is from Syria's Alawite minority linked to Shi'ite Islam, have been making gains across Syria by overrunning military bases and have been ramping up attacks on Damascus, his seat of power.

Since Thursday, clashes have been reported near the Aqraba and Babilla districts on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus which lead to the international airport, effectively closing the road and leading EgyptAir and Emirates to suspend flights.

Syrian state television quoted a ministry of information statement saying the Damascus international airport was open on Saturday and that the road leading to it was safe. Opposition activists said clashes continued.

Networking experts accuse the government of cutting off the Internet but Damascus blames "terrorists," a term it uses for the opposition.

Rights groups have warned the communications drop off is a precursor to a wider offensive by government forces in the capital. Syrian security sources and diplomats say the government intends to block central Damascus from the restive suburbs.

Rebels and activists said on Saturday there have been multiple communications problems since the uprising began.

Abu Yazen, an activist from the central city of Homs, said rebel units had been using satellite phones, radios and Skype to coordinate with each other.

"There is no Internet or phone service in Syria but it has not affected our work too much," he told Reuters over Skype.

Activists reported clashes and aerial strikes in the provinces of Homs, Deir al-Zor, Idlib and in Aleppo where they said 14 rebels fighters were killed during an assault on an army base in the town of Khanasser early on Saturday.

(Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-jets-bomb-rebels-internet-down-third-day-113622908.html

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Romney's loss creates GOP leadership vacuum

BOSTON (AP) ? Mitt Romney's shadow looms over a Republican Party in disarray.

The face of the GOP for much of the last year, the failed presidential candidate has been a virtual ghost since his defeat Nov. 6. He has quietly weathered the fallout of the campaign from the seclusion of his Southern California home, emerging only momentarily for a private lunch at the White House with President Barack Obama on Thursday.

His loss and immediate withdrawal from politics, while welcomed by most, has created a leadership vacuum within his party. It's left the GOP rudderless, lacking an overarching agenda and mired in infighting, with competing visions for the way ahead, during what may be the most important policy debate in a generation.

In his final meeting with campaign staffers at his Boston headquarters, Romney promised to remain "a strong voice for the party," according to those in attendance. But so far he has offered little to the Capitol Hill negotiations over potential tax increases and entitlement program changes that could affect virtually every American.

He declined to comment on the Treasury Department's recent refusal to declare China a currency manipulator, which was one of his signature issues over the past 18 months. He made no public remarks after his meeting with Obama, quickly fading away, again.

"If I had to tell you somebody who is the leader of the party right now, I couldn't," said Amy Kremer, chairman of the Tea Party Express, which is among the conservative factions vying for increased influence. "There's a void right now."

There's no shortage of Republicans maneuvering to fill it, from House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio to a number of high-profile politicians looking to boost their national profiles, if not position themselves for a 2016 presidential run. That group could include former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, son and brother of presidents, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Republican officials acknowledge party tensions between the moderate and conservative wings, as well as the tea party and evangelical constituencies. But they dismiss the leadership vacuum as a standard political reality for the losing party in the presidential race. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, never had a strong relationship with the conservative base, given his more moderate past.

Party officials are optimistic that a team of younger and more diverse leaders, drawn from the ranks of governors and Congress, will emerge in the coming months to help strengthen and unify what is now a party grappling with its identity. That list includes Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

The GOP was in disarray following its 2006 showing, searching for a new path and leader at a time when President George W. Bush was deeply unpopular.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 presidential nominee, briefly assumed control of a party that he long had criticized, but it never really warmed to him. He lost to Obama, and shortly after that, the party turned to an African-American official, Michael Steele, to serve as its chief spokesman. But the decision was widely seen as a mistake, as Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, presided over major financial problems as head of the Republican National Committee.

All that created a leadership vacuum that helped give rise to the tea party movement in 2009 and sparked rounds of internal battles between party pragmatists and more extreme conservatives.

Republican strategist Phil Musser is among those suggesting that the current void presents a breakout opportunity for the party chairman, Reince Priebus. The 40-year-old Midwesterner largely played a supporting administrative role in his first two years on the job.

"To some degree it's a challenge in as much you don't have a standard bearer to rally behind that unifies central themes of the conservative movement," Musser said. "The bottom line is that a little bit of messiness and frank family discussion is not a terrible thing after an election like this."

But Democrats are emboldened, both by their Election Day successes and the subsequent Republican discord.

GOP factions are fighting over multiple issues: the "fiscal cliff," which will dominate the debate on Capitol Hill at least through the end of the year; blame for Romney's defeat; and how to appeal to a shifting and more diverse electorate and unify its message.

The party's most passionate voters are reluctant to abandon hard-line immigration policies that have dominated their thinking for years. But Washington-based strategists describe a dire need to win over more Hispanic voters and other minorities who overwhelmingly supported Obama in the swing states that decided the election.

At the same time, rank-and-file Republicans on Capitol Hill are struggling to coalesce behind a single message during fiscal cliff negotiations that have exposed a new rift with fiscal conservative guru Grover Norquist and his anti-tax pledge.

There's also evidence that the fight isn't over between the conservative and pragmatic wings of the party in Senate primaries.

Conservatives wasted little time signaling that they would work to defeat Shelley Moore Capito, a popular congresswoman from a storied West Virginia political family, as she seeks the nomination for the chance to challenge Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller in 2014. Within an hour of Capito's announcing her candidacy, the deep-pocketed conservative Club for Growth branded her as the "establishment candidate" whose record in Congress of supporting prominent bailouts has led to bigger government.

Democrats already are working to exploit the GOP divisions to strengthen their own political standing.

Obama has taken his party's message directly to voters. He visited a Pennsylvania toy manufacturer on Friday, calling for Republicans to embrace the immediate extension of tax cuts for all but the top 2 percent of wealthiest Americans.

Though Boehner has taken the lead in negotiations with the White House, Republicans generally did not have a standard-bearer to counter that message. Instead, they're relying on familiar Capitol Hill leaders to guide party doctrine during his debate.

"We don't have one person out there carrying that torch. You'll have (South Carolina Sen.) Lindsey Graham, Speaker Boehner, (Wisconsin Rep.) Paul Ryan, John McCain ? same old, same old," said Republican strategist Hogan Gidley, a senior official on former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's unsuccessful presidential bid. "Void of a singular leader, we're going to have to rely on some of the younger more dynamic speakers to go out and make our argument."

No one, it seems, is talking about Romney assuming any sort of leadership role.

"I don't think that we need to be looking toward Mitt Romney to articulate our principles," said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots.

It appears Romney may cooperate, choosing business over politics in defeat.

The former businessman is subletting office space at the Boston-area venture capital firm, Solamere Capital, which was founded by his oldest son. Former aides expect Romney to stay out of the spotlight for the foreseeable future ? spending colder months at his California home and warmer months at his New Hampshire lake house.

"It might be better for him, better for the party, to start fresh," Gidley said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romneys-loss-creates-gop-leadership-vacuum-131523774--election.html

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Vampire on the loose in Serbia?

ZAROZJE, Serbia (AP) ? Get your garlic, crosses and stakes ready: a bloodsucking vampire is on the loose.

Or so say villagers in the tiny western Serbian hamlet of Zarozje, nestled between lush green mountain slopes and spooky thick forests. They say rumors that a legendary vampire ghost has awakened are spreading fear ? and a potential tourist opportunity ? through the remote village.

A local council warned villagers to put garlic in their pockets and place wooden crosses in their rooms to ward off vampires, although it appeared designed more to attract visitors to the impoverished region bordering Bosnia.

Many of the villagers are aware that Sava Savanovic, Serbia's most famous vampire, is a fairy tale. Still, they say, better to take it seriously than risk succumbing to the vampire's fangs.

"The story of Sava Savanovic is a legend, but strange things did occur in these parts back in the old days," said 55-year-old housewife Milka Prokic, holding a string of garlic in one hand and a large wooden stake in another, as an appropriately moody mist rose above the surrounding hills. "We have inherited this legend from our ancestors, and we keep it alive for the younger generations."

Vampire legends have played a prominent part in the Balkans for centuries ? most prominently Dracula from Romania's Transylvania region. In the 18th century, the legends sometimes triggered mass hysteria and even public executions of those accused of being vampires.

Sava Savanovic, described by the Zarozje villagers as Serbia's first vampire, reputedly drank the blood of those who came to the small shack in the dense oak tree forest to mill their grain on the clear mountain Rogatica river.

The wooden mill collapsed a few months ago ? allegedly angering the vampire, who is now looking for a new place to hang his cape.

Some locals claim they can hear steps cracking dry forest leaves and strange sounds coming from the rocky mountain peaks where the vampire was purportedly killed with a sharp stake that pierced his heart ? but managed to survive in spirit as a butterfly.

"One should always remain calm, it's important not to frighten him, you shouldn't make fun of him," said villager Mico Matic, 56, whose house is not far from the collapsed mill.

"He is just one of the neighbors, you do your best to be on friendly terms with him," he said with a wry smile, displaying garlic from both of his trouser pockets.

Some locals say it's easy for strangers to laugh at them, but they truly believe.

"Five people have recently died one after another in our small community, one hanging himself," said Miodrag Vujetic, a local municipal council member. "This is not by accident."

Vujetic, however, said that "whatever is true about Sava," locals should use the legend to promote tourism.

"If Romanians could profit on the Dracula legend with the tourists visiting Transylvania, why can't we do the same with Sava?"

Richard Sugg, a lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the U.K.'s University of Durham and an expert on the vampire legends, said the fear could be very real. Stress can bring on nightmares, which makes people's feelings of dread even worse.

"The tourists think it is fun ? and the Serbian locals think it's terrifying," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vampire-loose-serbia-140736133.html

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